Vegan Parties and Lazy Sunday Mornings

D and I always joke that our relationship is backwards. What we mean is that we started everything in reverse…..we jumped into family life together after our third date, each of us already having a kid from previous relationships. R was only three months old and miss Z was six years old. We then had a baby together four years later, and now we are planning our wedding. By the time our kids have left the nest, I guess we will be at the dating phase….with a lot more “us” time.

Last night we had a birthday party for D. He will be 42 in a couple of days. Like all of our parties, it was family friendly. Someone brought beer, but nobody got sloshed. Usually, our parties wrap up by ten. Everyone has a good time, though. We had about nine guests and then the five of us. I didn’t serve dinner this year at the party. We had our vegan chimichangas before everyone got there. I veganized my brother-in-law’s chimichangas. It is one of D’s favorites. I fill mine with rice and beans, sometimes adding vegan cheese. After they are fried, I top them with salsa, lettuce, and some type of vegan sour cream. Last night I made a cashew sour cream, which is really easy. It consists of cashews, lemon, water, and salt. I had a little of the sour cream left over, so I served that with salsa and chips for the party. People really liked it.

The people who come to our parties aren’t all vegan. Besides us, our neighbors are usually the only other vegans. I used to worry that people wouldn’t like the food I served. I don’t worry about that anymore. I often don’t get a piece of cake because everyone else loves it so much. D always requests my chocolate chip cookie cake. It is really the chocolate chip bars from How It All Vegan. I then top it with some sort of chocolate frosting. This year, I made the one I have been raving about in my previous posts. It is super easy, too. I melt coconut oil, and combine that with cocoa powder and maple syrup in a blender. So good. It was a big hit this year. The cake was a bit gooey, but everyone seemed to like it that way. Now it’s time to plan Z’s party, which is in a couple of weeks. It’s a little harder to please the pre-teen crowd, but I haven’t had any complaints yet. One year, she requested split pea soup for her birthday dinner. I didn’t think it would go over very well, but there wasn’t any left after the party.

So here I sit, eating my breakfast which is really more like brunch, considering it’s almost noon. This has become a tradition here on Sundays. We are all home, we don’t have any commitments, so why not. I usually either make pancakes or french toast. Vegan french toast is really easy to make, it consists of chickpea flour, almond milk, and arrowroot, I whisk it together and dip my bread in it, then fry it on my cast-iron skillet. Served with Earth Balance and maple syrup, it is so good. The kids have already devoured theirs, so I get to sit here and eat and enjoy some “me” time.